THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



it needs no recommendation in a coinniiinity 

 lilie vours, presenting in its beiiutiful villages, 

 among its swelling liills, and its riclily cultiviited 

 vales, in the character of" its rural poimlarion, 

 such einphatical demonstrations of improved ed- 

 ucation, of correct morals, and of the best influ- 

 ences of religion. 



I have barely glanced at these topics, because I 

 would not encroach upon your indulgence. I 

 have done this with tlie more earnestness be- 

 cause the tendency of our young people, impel- 

 led by avarice or by false views of happiness, has 

 been to forsake the wholesome i)ursuits of agri- 

 culture, where they found health, competence, 

 and a manly independence, for oecupatious in tlie 

 cities, oftentimes, of the most servile character; 

 degrading to their self-respect, corrupting to theh- 

 passions, and proving often the grave of their 

 virtue. Our cities likewise are crowded with 

 young men of protijssional education, who, with 

 hearts acliing from liopes deferred, lingei- along 

 (i-om year to year until the health is exhausted, 

 liabiis of indolence are induced and confirmed, 

 and the best portion of life is wasted away with- 

 out the accomplishment of any valuable object ; 

 or the enjoyment of those domestic ties, in vvliich 

 Heaven designed that man should find the strong- 

 est security of virtue and the purest fountains of 

 happiness. 



AGRICULTCRAL IMPROVEMENTS BETTEU THAN 

 SPLENDID HOUSES. 



I would gladly likewise commend this subje 

 to another class of individuals, whose attention 1 

 fear, however, I shall bespeak in vain. Whoever 

 visits our great cities is constantly struck with 

 amazetnent at the enormous expense and splen- 

 dor of many of the private residences ; at the ex- 

 travagant piles of brick and stone, seldom half 

 tenanted, aud adapted to real comfort and 

 veniencc in an inverse ratio to their inordinate 

 size and their wasteful magnificence. I would 

 seldom, indeed, advise a person, accustomed 

 through the prime and middle of life to tlie ex 

 citements of business, politics, amusements, and 

 general society in the cities, to go at once in 

 tlie seclusion of the country, especially ut tli 

 period of life when the vital current becomes 

 sluggish and the phyical powers lose their wont- 

 ed energies; but it is not difficult for such men, 

 when their fortunes are made, to enjoy tlie ad- 

 vantages of the city and the country together. 

 Let them pass, if they please, their winters in the 

 city; but whatinnnense benefactions iiiiiilit they 

 confer upon society, and what sources ol" agree- 

 able and useful occupation might they Ihid for 

 themselves, if, instead of expending tiieir fifties 

 or their liundreds of thousands on a brick or 

 stone castle in the city, which they have seldom 

 the means of enabling their children to occupy, 

 and which must therefore, in the course of na- 

 ture, soon change hands*, they would expend 

 some tlirce fbmths of that sum in subduing, cul- 

 tivating, and im|)ro\ ing some hundreds of acres 

 in the country, rendering them productive, and 

 planting upon them industrious families. They 

 would breathe into the heart of tlieir benefactors, 

 the purest of pleasures in welcoming them, 

 whenever, they came among tlieni, as their best 

 friends. This seems one of the most useful, as 

 it is certainly one of the most innocent purjioses 

 to whicli wealth can be applied. 



CAiN AGRICULTURE BE MADE PROFITABLE? 



But 1 must pass on to other topics. The next 

 question then, which arise.'! in this case, is wheth- 

 er agriculture can be made profitable ; and es- 

 pecially whether it can be mtde jn-ofitable in 

 New England? This is a great question, lean 

 only reply briefly, without going into tlie various il- 

 lustrations which miglit be presented. I will here 

 ex|)ress my thorough disgust forthatinordiuateand 

 grovelling avarice, which can find no good but in 

 the accumulation of mere dollars and cents, 

 Wealth is to be valued for its uses not for its amount: 

 and a philanthropist can look only with sorrow 

 and ahum iipou tiiat heartless aud frenzied spirit 

 of accumulation, wliich at one. time, like a terri 

 ble epidemic, threatened to lay waste all prinei 

 pie and honor, and to render contentment, com 

 petence, and reasonable and moderate desires, 

 mutters of pure romance, wliich we had some 

 wiicro read ol' in our cliifdliood. By the right- 

 eous laws of Divine Providence, that ii 



frugality, has been bo signally rebuked, that it 



11 not again immediately show itself. There 

 may still be the appearance of life in its quiver- 

 ing limbs, but few will have coiu-age or power to 

 attempt its resuscitation. 



In the southern portions of cur country, favor- 

 d for the purpose by its peculiar climate and 

 oil, we hear of agricuituial returns in their 

 great staples, which confound tlie humble calcu- 

 lations to whicii we in IVew England are accus- 

 tomed. Yet tliere are abatements in the case, in 

 he jierils to healtii, and in the nature of the la- 

 bor by which these products arc procured, 

 whch, save where the heart is cankered with av- 

 arice and inhumanity, at once relieve a New 

 England man of all envy of such success. The 

 tiict likewise presents itself in the case, strange 

 as the anomaly may seem, that the southern 

 planters are not richer than the northern fiir- 

 mers ; they have not so many of the real com- 

 forts of life. Many a New England farmer is 

 more independent with his income of a few 

 hundreds, than the southern master of his hn- 

 counted acres and his hundreds of slaves, with 

 his income of many thousands. I do not say 

 tliese things in the spirit of invidious compari- 

 sons ; I would not mar the pleasures of the oc- 

 casion by awakening a single unkind feeling. 

 IJut we may learn, fiom the facts in the case, a 

 lesson of gratitude, that we are permitted to 

 briathe the bracing air of northern tnoutains and 

 seas, and the still more invigoi-ating atmosphere 

 of equality of condition and universal freedom. 



Agriculture in New England presents no brill- 

 iant prizes to the mind bent solely upon the ac- 

 cumulation of wealth. Yet rough, barren, and 

 inhospitable as New England seems to many 

 persons, yet I can show you, in every town from 

 Lake Champlain to the Aroostook, aud from 

 Saybrook to the Canada line, not a few examples 

 of men, who by farming have maintained their 

 families in health and comfort, educated their 

 children well, and, if so they pleased, found the 

 means of sending one or more sous to college ; 

 exercised, as far as they had occasion, an un- 

 stiuted hospitality ; contiibuted tlieir full shiiie 

 of the public dues, and are now enjoying the 

 evening of life with an honest conscience and a 

 petence for every reasonable want. The 

 house, in sucli case, may appear moss-covered 

 and brown with age. No burnished lamps light 

 up its halls, and no carpet soft as down cover its 

 floors; but infinitely preferable is such a dwell- 

 ing to palaces, where once wealth, the pioduct of 

 defrauded labor, illuminated every room, and 

 revehy and luxury held their frequent coiuts ; 

 and where now, "though bankruptcy has long 

 since entered, men are still living upon the frag- 

 ments of former luxury or upon hoarded gains, 

 in defiance of justice and honor. 



ADVANTAGE OF HIGH CULTIVATIOiN. 



Further, my inquiries have satisfied me, that 

 there is not a single crop well cultivated in New 

 England, which in ordinary seasons will not pay 

 a fair rent of the land at current prices, and liber- 

 ally compensate the labor and cuUivation. Our 

 proximity to (piick markets gives us great ad' 

 tages ove'r many iiarts of the country. In one of 

 niv visits to a town on the sea shore of Massachu- 

 setts, in a region whose rock-bound surface seem- 

 ed to set cultivation at defiance, I found several 

 acres of land subdued and improved at the rate 

 of three hundred dollars per acre. Could this 

 be afibrded ? Look at the case. The land was 

 made to produce three tons of hay to the acre. 

 The ])rice of hay in the vicinity has averaged for 

 years, at least fifleen dollars. The value of one 

 ton of hay per year, is sufficient to gather the 

 crop and keep the land in condition. Thirty 

 dollars then are the net return for the investment. 

 These are examples of extraordinary expe.idi- 

 tures and ample profits. The crop of Lidian 

 corn is the great blessing of our country. The 

 average crop in New England is thirty bushels. 

 It is not difficult to prodi"ice fifty to an acre. I 

 have known one hundred and eleven produced 

 on an acre in Massachusetts, as measured after 

 being shelled and dried. At fifiy bushels per 

 acre, rating the rough fodder as equal to a ton of 

 English bay, and the grain at seventy cents per 

 bushel, the return may be considered as equal to 

 fifty dollars. Thirty dollars may be considered ns a 

 high average cost of cultivation, and this including 

 the interest upon the value^ of the laud ut fifty 

 dollars per acre. 



COMPARATIVE PRODUCTS AND INCOME OF THE 

 EAST AND WEST. 



I have lately returned from a visit to the far 

 West : from the Illinois prairies, beautiful and fer- 

 tile beyond all description. This land has been to 

 be had almost for the asking. I am not disposed to 

 underrate any of the advantages of this land of 

 promise, farther than to say, that I am more than 

 ever satisfied with New England. The boast of 

 this western country is that the crops require no 

 manuring and little cultivation. Under present 

 circumstances, the land, allowing the enclosure to 

 be such as to require only twenty rods of fence 

 to an acre, cannot be fenced with a worm fence 

 under six dollars an acre. This Is to be added to 

 the cost of the land. The first year's breaking 

 up, when in general no return of any value ia 

 obtained, is done at an expense of two dollars 

 and a half per acre. This, likewise, is to be ad- 

 ded to the cost of the land, We come now to 

 the second year, when it is to be ploughed at an 

 expense of two dollars and a half or two dollars 

 per acre ; the corn is to be planted and covered ; 

 it is to be ]iarro\\ed with a cultivator at least 

 tliree times, which at current prices of labor can- 

 not be estimated at less than two dollars ; and it 

 must be gathered, and husked, and and cribbed 

 at an expense I leave you to estimate. The 

 rough fodder is deemed of no value. The crop 

 ordinarily will not exceed forty bushels, but some- 

 times rises to fifVy. Place it at fifty. The pres- 

 ent jjrice varies from fifteen to twenty cents. It 

 can scarcely ever be expected to rise above tweu- 

 ty-five cents. This would give a return of 

 twelve and a half dollars to the acre, out of which 

 you must deduct at least seven dollars for the 

 cultivation. This certainly is not to be compared 

 with our New England profits, as far as this 

 branch of husbandry is concerned. Labor must 

 continue to be higli in the Western States. 

 Cheap land will make high wages. I have not 

 time to consider other branches of husbandry in 

 the West. 



One of the products of New England is fine 

 wool. In localities adapted to this product, 

 where three pounds are obtained to a fleece, and 

 land for pasturage is at a reasonable price, wool • 

 will pay a fair profit at thirty-seven and a half 

 cents per poimd. It may often be produced at 

 thirty. VVe consider of course, in the case, the 

 increase of the flock. The dairy produce in the 

 best districts of New England is nowhere sur- 

 passed in amount. The ordinary product of a 

 cow may be rated at 250 lbs. of new milk cheese, 

 and 25 lbs. of butter a year. This is a yield 

 with which no fiinner should be satisfied. The 

 returns of the best dairies in England and Scot- 

 land, give an average of 500 lbs. of new milk 

 cheese to a cow. This is admitted to be an ex- 

 traordinary yield. The returns of some dairies 

 in Berkshire County, in Massachusetts, give an 

 average of more than 500 lbs. of new milk 

 cheese, and in one case of 627 lbs.; in anothei 

 case, of Ci32 lbs. to a cow ; and in this latter in- 

 stance, from eighteen cows, yielding this amount 

 of cheese, 200 lbs. of butter were produced the 

 same season and 1700 lbs. of pork were fattened, 

 half of which was to be credited to the dairy. 



Of hay in New England, I have known more 

 than 29 tons of well made hay, every load weigh- 

 ed under oath at the public scales, taken in a 

 year from 6 acres of land, and 120 tons from 40 

 acres. Of potatoes, more than 600 bushels have 

 been repeatedly produced ; of ruta baga, 900 

 bushels; of mangel wurtzel, more than 1600; of 

 carrots, more than 1300, and in one instance at 

 the rate of 1784 bushels to the acre ; of broom- 

 corn, more than 1000 ])ounds of brush ; of rye, 

 more than 40 bushels ; of wheat, more than 35 ; 

 and of oats, 100 bushels to the acre, and upwards 

 of 90 bushels to the acre on a field of several 

 acres. No person will suppose that I mention 

 these as ordinary crops ; they are very extraor- 

 dinary crops. But as they rest upon indubitable 

 evidence, we have a right to refer to them as 

 showing what may be done. There is no more 

 powerful stimulant to exertion and enterprise, 

 than the well established success of others 

 placed in circumstances not diflfering from our 

 own. 



New England has, in a great measure, despair- 

 ed of producing its own wheat ; but, in my opin- 

 ion, there is no'occnsion for such despair. Sev- 

 eral liumers in Massachusetts have produced 

 tlieir own whenten bread ft>r ycdrs. Their crops 



